Epic Among the Stars: Aggressive Negotiations
by GalacticaCAG
Summary: RE-POST!  The continuing tale of Ben Stratis and his Colonial crew as they venture beyond the Red Line into the Galaxy Far, Far, Away.  This is a CROSSOVER, but I posted here for reader-traffic purposes.  Anyhow, happy reading and please review!
1. Chapter One

**Disclaimer****: I own neither Battlestar Galactica or Star Wars**

**EPIC AMONG THE STARS**

**Part II: Aggressive Negotiations**

**Chapter One**

**Battlestar **_**Ranger**_**, BSG-82**

"Jump complete, Admiral," Commander Emily Clark announced loud enough for the rest of CIC to hear. "We have arrived in GFFA space."

A scattered applause broke out among the crew, the excitement of discovery pervading among the first Colonials to enter this part of the galaxy. Newly-minted Admiral Ben Stratis, lately actual of the ill-fated _Spartan_, indulged them in their exuberance, allowing the slip in military discipline in favor of good morale. He too allowed himself a tight grin, though those who knew him best could tell it did not reach his eyes: his best friend and XO, Emily, could see that the loss of his former command weighed heavily upon him, particularly the commendation given him for the action that cost him his ship and the greater part of his beloved crew.

She lay a hand surreptitiously on his arm. He looked at her with sad eyes but gave a brief nod of gratitude before turning away. She sighed: he was bottling his emotions tightly up inside, burying them deeply where no-one could reach. Emily knew he blamed himself and that it was eating him alive.

When he finally spoke, Ben's voice betrayed nothing. "Ladies and gentlemen, begin preparations for the next jump. Our long voyage nears an end: congratulations." Without waiting for popular response, he turned on the wireless operator- one of the few survivors from _Spartan_. "Jamie," he said softly," contact the _Journeyman_ and inform them that final arrangements are under way for our jump to Coruscant."

"Aye sir," the Specialist replied, activating the comm network. "Prince to _Journeyman_, prepare for communications package from _Ranger_ actual…"

Her voice faded into the buzz of chatter that was ever-present in the CIC of a battlestar. Alone with his thoughts, Ben leaned heavily upon the charting table, gripping its edges in a vice as he sought to banish the ghosts that had followed him.

**GFFA Frigate **_**Journeyman**_

The frigate was a far emptier place since the Battle of Concordia Station, Jedi Knights Jacen Solo and Tahiri Veila recognized sadly: crew members were seen only sparingly in the halls now and those that were anywhere in sight carried on with a shroud of sorrow adorning them, hardly surprising in the aftermath of losing over three hundred of their friends to an enemy not their own. The corridors, once a sterile white, still bore the scarring of weapons' fire and the stain of spilled blood.

But there was one signature in the Force that drew their focus now, solitary in the vessel's Forward Observation Blister. The door swished open silently at their approach and, sure enough, there was a single occupant, seated in the very front row of formchairs. Intensely distracted, he appeared not to register their arrival.

By wordless assent, the two Jedi cautiously approached. When they entered the field of the troubled man's vision, he started violently before looking intensely embarrassed.

"We didn't mean to startle you," Tahiri said with an easy grin.

This did not seem to be quite enough to put the man at ease. Saul Osso staggered to his feet after a long moment, as if remembering some important point of deference. "N-no. I apologize, Master Jedi: I will leave you the room."

Jacen raised his hand to stop him as he moved to leave. "Nonsense Ensign…Osso, is it?"

Saul stopped more from surprise than the Jedi's soothing gesture. "You…you know my name?"

Jacen looked at him with that trademark lopsided grin. "Small ship like this, word gets around. Almost everyone on board knows your name after Concordia."

No sooner had the familiar churning sensation begun in his stomach did Tahiri break in, her voice pitched with the utmost sensitivity, "That's why you're hiding here alone, isn't it?"

Hearing her say those words somehow unleashed an overwhelming torrent of emotion that sent Saul reeling. Suddenly weary again, he sunk once more into the nearest form-chair. Wordlessly, the two Jedi sat beside him, eying him kindly. After a long moment of silence, Jacen ventured, "Perhaps talking might ease you."

The suggestion brought Saul to regard him thoughtfully, a glance at his earnest expression and that of his companion making his decision for him. He sighed heavily, rubbing his face with his hands. Finally he spoke: "I don't want to be remembered. Not for this."

"Saul," Tahiri said gently, "you have nothing to be ashamed of. Many people are alive because of you today."

"Yeah, well a hell of a lot more aren't," he snapped irritably before coloring with chagrin. "I'm sorry."

She waved off his apology. "You can't save everyone, Saul."

"I know," he said slowly, "but I shouldn't be celebrated for doing no more than anyone else. I was just in the right place at the right time. If I had been with my section I-" He broke off suddenly, his pain sweeping as waves into the Force.

Giving the crewer a moment to master himself, Jacen laid a hand on his shoulder in comfort, sending a pulse of Force energy through the man to sooth him. "You what, Saul?"

"I would have died with them!" he burst out at last. "They were killed! Every last one of them! I lived- and for what? To return home to my meaningless life on Hapes, resume my pitiful existence as a second-class citizen?"

The mention of Hapes sent Jacen's mind whirling to thoughts of a certain Queen Mother and the red-headed child that was theirs. He quickly slammed up his mental shields, emplacing them to protect his most precious secret. Tahiri gave him a strange look, one that he knew promised a future discussion, but pressed on as he composed himself.

"Your life is far from meaningless, Saul. You've proved it here."

"Those people I worked with…they had families! Wives, children! I have no-one! I live in a Consortium where I can never BE anything." He was visibly upset and he knew it, taking a series of deep breathes to check himself. "Don't get me wrong, things have changed a lot since Queen Mother Tenel Ka ascended- otherwise I wouldn't be here- but its not enough anymore."

"Anymore?" Jacen prompted.

Saul looked bewildered a moment. Suddenly, "I did say that, didn't I?"

A nod.

"I guess that…since I've been on this ship, since I met the Marines, I have noticed more. Equality. Men and Women standing together as equals. Many of the ruling houses would look at the system as ludicrous…but since I have felt it, I don't want to give it up. I want…" he faltered, uncertainly. "I want to live a life worthy of the ones that were lost. For my friends. One with meaning."

He looked incredibly relieved to have spoken; Jacen and Tahiri looked at each-other and knew their work was done: they had brought the "Hero of Concordia" clarity. The rest was up to him.

"Then you will," Tahiri said simply, rising.

Jacen followed suit. "Coruscant lies at the end of the next jump; it is a galactic crossroads…and one for you as well. It could take you anywhere. You just have to decide which path is yours. May the Force be with you, Saul Osso."

With a smile, he and Tahiri left the FOB, leaving Saul alone in the dark with his thoughts. He hardly registered the announcement over the ship's internal communications network informing of the impending hyperspace jump to the city-world.

He remained still, lost in thought, even as the stars beyond the transparisteel viewport blurred and they were away, hurdling towards a crossroads he was unsure he was ready to face.

**Battlestar **_**Ranger**_**, BSG-82**

With a flash of blinding blue-white light, the titanic Battlestar flared into existence: the anticipation was almost palpable in CIC as all eyes fixed themselves hungrily on the DRADIS console, as though willing it to orient its processors faster. The few seconds ticked past like hours until, with one fateful sweep of the sensor, they were afforded their first, rudimentary glimpse of the city-planet of Coruscant.

It was surrounded by scores of ships and orbitals, large and small, the smallest vessels- no larger than Vipers- darted about in no apparent order. But the riot of constructs in orbit was not what drew their attention…

…the fact that more and more of the DRADIS signatures were disappearing every instant did.

"What the frak…" Emily murmured at Ben's side in alarm.

For the first time in the journey, the consumed Admiral felt enlivened as adrenaline coursed through him, seeming almost as though life itself was coursing through his veins again. "Give me feed from the bow cam," he ordered curtly, jolting his people out of their lethargy.

Colonel Reilly was the first to react, relaying the order for emphasis in his customary brogue. "Bow cams!"

The ops officer, fingers shaking slightly, hit a few keys but paused to hover over "enter," as though hesitant to execute the command. A glance up at Ben's steady gaze and he took a deep breath, his finger more falling on the fateful key rather than tapping it as he was wont.

The DRADIS screen flashed to black before activating the display. Though colorless, the screen showed with crystal clarity the darkness of the cosmos in the midst of a pitched space battle; tiny pinpricks of lights marked the death of starfighters while giant, flickering and sparking hulks that were once capitol ships tumbled from the sky, wreathed in flame. Sections of the city below were aflame, an all-consuming inferno overwhelming entire districts.

Ben's mind raced. Never in their darkest projections had the analysts predicted anything like this: they had jumped into the middle of a warzone. "Get me Shaw on the line now!" he snapped as the crew burst into a frenzy of activity. "Action stations!"

Eyes flashing rapidly from the DRADIS screen to the camera feed, he analyzed the information pouring in, filtering out the sounds of a warship clearing for battle. Emily came up beside him, staring just as intently as he. "That smaller cluster there," he murmured to her, "is in geosynchronous orbit over the central planetary district, shielding it from the larger force."

She nodded, glancing at him concernedly. Thoughtfully, she murmured back, "Those ships…they have the same hull markings."

Ben's focus snapped to the camera feed. "Frak me…you're right. This isn't just a battle…it's a civil war!"

"Shaw on line one, Admiral," Jamie Prince announced tersely from the comm station.

Emily moved off as Ben snatched the phone from its mount. Keeping his voice steady only with great difficulty, he demanded in a low voice, "Shaw, what in the hell is going on here?"

The voice that replied was hardly less perturbed. "There's…there's been a coup, Admiral Stratis, a military coup. The situation is very confused. We-" the voice was briefly washed out with static before returning,"-we have been contacted by General Bel Iblis from _Peregrine_ informing us as much, requesting that we aid his task force in evacuating the Jedi Temple."

"Who the frak are these people!"

"The Guard, Admiral. The Galactic Alliance Guard…they are claiming that Jedi assassins murdered Chief of State Cal Omas." There was a weighty pause before Shaw's voice returned, "Admiral Stratis, we realize that this is not your fight and do not ask you to join us, but Bel Iblis needs our help. Shaw out." The link was severed from the other end.

"Damn!" Ben cursed, watching as _Journeyman _accelerated from their side to join the shrinking perimeter over what he assumed to be the Jedi temple.

"Orders, Admiral?" Emily asked quietly from beside him.

Stratis sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration. Finally, "Pull back out of range. This is not our fight- they're on their own now.

_Author's Note_: _Well all, slowly but surely I am rebuilding this installment of the story. You should be able to see some of the changes already when taken in contrast to the first version. Re-reading it, a fair bit of it didn't make as much sense as I would have liked, so I began to revamp it; some aspects will remain the same, but others might change completely. In any case, I hope to hear from you all and that the revised chapters meet your satisfaction._

_But now, as a special treat my friends…read on!_

_-The CAG_


	2. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer****: I do not own Battlestar Galactica or Star Wars.**

**Chapter Two**

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple**

They had come in the black of night in an eerie rendition of the attack on the Jedi Temple over half a century before during Darth Sidious' masterstroke. Like the 501st Legion clone troops before them, the GAG commandoes struck swiftly and without mercy, following executive orders from above unquestioningly.

And they, like their predecessors, came with blasters spitting.

With lethal efficiency, the faceless Guard soldiers gunned down the two Temple sentries before they could so much as draw their lightsabers. As the black-clad troopers surged through the gate, however, dozens of Jedi jolted out of their rest as the death of their comrades invaded their dreams.

With a start, Grand Master Luke Skywalker bolted upright in his bed, his wife Mara following suit not a half-second later. "Did you…?" she started.

"Yes." Luke snatched up his lightsaber from his bedside table, also grabbing their go-bag from the closet as Mara pulled on a robe. Then, lightsaber's ignited, they burst from their quarters, sprinting for the control room. Fortunately, the scattered resistance above had delayed the GAG's advance, offering them safe passage. The halls were full of Jedi running every which-way.

Catching sight of a familiar figure, Luke grabbed Kyle Katarn by the shoulder.

"Master." Katarn nodded quickly.

"Kyle, I need you to go up there and take charge. Organize a defense of the corridors, specifically the ones leading to the younglings' section and the hanger bay."

"Got it," he said and was off.

Kenth Hamner was already in the control room when they arrived, feverishly engaging the Temple's security systems, shields, and blast doors. Mara instantly joined him, releasing a swarm of YVH droids upon the invaders, their efforts buying needed time. Luke, meanwhile was on the holonet transceiver.

Inputting a code known only to a select few, he activated the comm system. Almost instantly, he was surrounded by holograms of his closest friends and allies: Han and Leia, Wedge Antilles, Garm bel Iblis, Lando Calrissian, Talon Kaarde, and Booster Terrik. All wore grave expressions, for this comm link was to be used for one purpose and one only.

"Skywalker," bel Iblis began, "what's happening down there? I have Galactic Alliance Guard ships vectoring in from half a dozen hyperlanes."

"I don't know, Garm. There was a disturbance in the Force and the next we knew, GAG troopers were storming the Temple. We can hold them, but not forever: we need evac stat."

"Garm, Wedge," Han broke in, "one of you guys has to have heard something. I mean, you're fleet commanders for Force's sake!"

"Not a thing, Han," Wedge replied. "Then again, I'm posted way the hell out here in the Outer Rim. Garm's right above you."

Bel Iblis shook his head, "Nothing concrete yet, but haven't been able to raise the Chief's Office. This doesn't smell right."

"I've been sniffing out trouble longer than I can remember, "said Lando dourly in his smooth and cultured tone, "and I would call that an understatement."

"Agreed," Kaarde said. "My people will rendezvous with Booster and await your arrival. Han, Leia, I would get out of there too: with your Order connections, they'll be after you next."

"We're on it," Leia assured them before vanishing from the hologram, presumably to prep the _Falcon_. Moments later, however, she was replaced in the background by Threepio, his voice as near to panic as a droids vocabulator could make it.

"Captain Solo, Captain Solo! There's someone at the door!"

Han made a face at Kaarde and Lando. "Had to say it, didn't you? Good luck, Solo out." The hologram died.

"Right," Luke said, pressing on, knowing that Han and Leia could handle themselves, "we'll regroup at Eclipse Station as soon as we can- and as soon as we have lost any pursuit. Secrecy is the priority."

Booster Terrik, who had managed to hold his peace for this long could do so no longer: "Alright, this is all well and good, but what are you doing about my grandchildren!"

Luke gave the doting grandfather a soothing smile. "Mara will be flying them out herself on the _Shadow_."

Mara's head jerked up from a console a few feet away. "I'll be doing WHAT?"

Ignoring her at what he knew would be his own peril, he pushed on, "Listen, I have got to go. Wedge," he said to his old Rogue Squadron comrade, "Wedge, you keep us appraised about what's going on here, but don't tip your hand to the Guard. And contact Tenel Ka on Hapes. Skywalker, over and out."

When he looked up, Mara was beside him, hands on her hips with a critical expression on her face. "I'll be doing _what_, Skywalker?"

Luke leaned in and gave her a kiss, if only to stay her wrath. "Someone has to fly the younglings out and the _Jade Shadow_ is our fastest ship and no-one knows her like you do."

At length, she grunted in grudging acceptance of logic and professional pride, but fixed him with a steady look. "Fine. But Ben's coming with me as my co-pilot, your apprentice or not! And don't think you've heard the last of this." With a purpose, she turned away and started out.

"Never dreamed of such a thing," he muttered.

"What was that?" Mara called from the doorway.

"Nothing," he amended hastily and, with a smirk, she was gone, but was instantly replaced by another Skywalker-Solo family female, one just as stubborn: Jaina.

"Blaster bolts, Uncle Luke! What in the Corellian Hells is all this?" she exclaimed, catching sight of him instantly.

"I don't know, Jaina. None of us do."

"You mean these Hutt-spawn masquerading as people come charging into the Temple, pillaging, burning, and interrupting my beauty sleep without so much as a reason?"

Luke chuckled: definitely the Solo spunk in this one. He deigned not to rise to her bait and cut straight to the point: "You want to get in the cockpit, yes?"

She nodded vehemently.

"Then I suggest you catch your Aunt Mara and fly her wing- she's going up first with the younglings."

Jaina nodded and turned away to hurry after her former master, calling back over her shoulder, "Right- but don't think I won't be back!"

With the strangest sense of déjà vu, Luke found himself muttering, "Never dreamed of such a thing."

Again, a snappy response: "I heard that!"

Luke sighed. Sometimes he thought being Grand Master of the Jedi Order, facing down enemies from across the galaxy and beyond, while restoring peace to the galaxy was easier than dealing with the women of his own family. He simply wasn't cut out for this sort of thing.

Resignedly, he turned back to organizing the defense.

**Corouscant, Temple Airspace**

As _Journeyman_ accelerated into the fray, the airwaves were abuzz with the news: the GAG was claiming that the Jedi had killed Cal Omas! That they and their treacherous allies had staged a bloody coup! When Jancen and Tahiri launched from the bay in perfect tandem, they could feel the Force practically roiling in turmoil.

One hardly needed eyes to know the situation was bad. And if one decided they needed visual compounding, they needed only look as far as the airspace over the Jedi Temple- now aflame- and witness the veritable carpet of turbolaser fire criss-crossing the deadly space between the warships. Many shots were absorbed by rippling shields, but a fearful number found solid targets and vessels plunged out of control towards the planet below in ever-increasing numbers.

As the pitifully few fighters remaining in _Journeyman'_s complement flew escort for the small frigate, Tahiri's voice came to Jacen over the crackling comm system. "Is your sister out there, Jace?"

Her voice jolted him from being consumed by the turmoil; instead, he turned his focus on the powerful bond that existed between him and his twin.

Far off to their right, he could sense her presence and felt her warm, welcoming touch in return. She was right where he'd expected her to be: in the thick of it.

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple Airspace**

In the thin screen of fighters above the Jedi Temple, Jaina Solo embraced the touch of her twin even as she dodged and juked to avoid the peppering fire of this next wave of matte-black Guard fighters. Ever since her return, she and her fellow pilots had been engaged in holding off the swarms of starfighters that had swooped in to harass the Jedi transports; thus far, they had been successful, but every wave shaved a few fighters from their force and the odds were certainly tipping ever more in the enemy's favor.

Even now under fire, she once again radioed her Uncle, who remained to rally the Temple's defenders. They had been battered by constant artillery fire and ground assault for nearly two hours before the deployment of bel Iblis' Fleet and yet remained the target of determined ground assault. "Uncle Luke," she comm'd him over his private channel, "if you're coming out, it'd better be now!" Jaina did not fancy herself grand strategist, but she knew a losing fight when she saw one.

"I copy," Luke replied, the line crackling with static as the enemy continually attempted to jam their transmission. The sounds of combat were thick in the background and evacuation order was terse, punctuated by the whine of blaster fire.

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple**

Slowly, Luke and his defenders collapsed back on the main hanger to fill the evacuation shuttles. Dozens fell, Jedi and GAG alike, in the desperate fighting through the corridors.

"Padawans and wounded first!" he commanded, urging his Knights to hurry themselves aboard the remaining shuttles. Force knew that they had but limited time before the GAG assault troops reached the hanger. Kyle Katarn and the few platoons Bel Iblis had been able to scrape together from his flagship were valiantly attempting to hold back the tide, but the odds on the ground, as in space, were far from being in their favor.

The sound of the nearing enemy served as a better motivator than Luke's own commanding presence, as the shuttles were loaded to capacity and launched in swift succession, immediately burning out of the atmosphere to rendezvous with the circling capitol ships.

Suddenly, the loading area was peppered with laser fire from above: some Guardsmen had worked their way through the ventilation system and onto the balcony above. Near to a dozen Jedi and other beings were cut down by the horribly accurate fusillade. Luke's green blade was ignited in milliseconds, weaving an impenetrable wall of light between his charges and their attackers.

"Get aboard! Go, go, go!" he shouted on the run, already advancing on the four gunmen, directing their fire back at them with lethal accuracy. Even as one, then two of them fell with smoking holes in their armor, those who remained were professionals and maintained a steady fire upon him.

As if it could stop him. With a shout, Luke leapt, calling upon the Force to propel him to the balcony and, with a single sweep of his terrible green sword, it was over. Morosely, Luke closed down his lightsaber and clipped it again to his utility belt before calling on the Force once more to bring down the wall, effectively blocking any attempt to utilize the same surprise again.

Not, he noted, that they would have any need: from the shadow beyond main entry to the hanger emerged Kyle Katarn and a trio of Knights, lightsabers ablaze, followed by a shattered and stumbling contingent of Fleet Troopers.

"Close the blast doors! Close the sithing blast doors!" Katarn bellowed as he halted by the portal, deflecting the flurry of blaster bolts that chased his fellows. Luke landed beside him as a padawan scrambled over to the door controls, and the door slammed shut with a resounding _clang_.

"That won't hold them for long," Luke remarked, closing down his lightsaber. Beyond the durasteel doors, he could already hear the sound of cutting as the Guard troops began to cut their way in. "Well done, Kyle. Get them on the transports," he said, clapping his fellow Master on the shoulder.

Katarn nodded. "Alright people, lets move!"

Urged on by the groans of the straining blast doors, the remaining Jedi pushed aboard the final shuttles under Luke's watchful eye. The Force gave him an instants warning as the doors finally failed, just as the last transport lifted off. GAG troopers poured into the hanger, blasters spitting at the transport above, which returned the gesture with its aft cannon.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Luke dashed for his X-Wing, Artoo faithfully trundling along behind as Luke cut through the resistance seeking to stop him, squealing and emitting high-pitched shrieks in equal measure all along the way.

"Come on, Artoo…" Luke prompted, a bit impatiently, redirecting with a nudge of the Force a shoulder-fired rocket that sought to destroy their sole means of escape.

Artoo toodled indignantly, firing his propulsion rockets and whizzing over the Jedi Master's head to land easily in his socket; from there he swiveled his dome in a very human like gesture that seemed to say, "I'm waiting."

Luke sighed and seated himself in the cockpit, the transparisteel canopy lowering, effectively protecting him from the small arms fire harassing him. A line of type from Artoo scrolled across the screen on the instrument panel.

"No, Artoo, we don't exactly have time for the pre-flight check list right now!" With unparalleled skill borne of years of experience, he lifted off and rocketed for space, leaving below the third Jedi Temple to burn on Coruscant.

Behind him, Artoo chattered humorously and blew one of his trademark raspberries.

**Coruscant Airspace**

"He's clear!" Jaina comm'd as she watched her Uncle Luke's X-Wing burst from the hanger bay, nimbly juking to avoid the ground fire rising from the Guard anti-air batteries placed around the Temple.

Taking advantage of her own fighter's stealth capability, she swooped in upon the unsuspecting battery from behind, loosing a shadow bomb into their midst. An instant later, all that remained of the gun and its crew was a smoking crater. Easily, she pulled up to fly tandem with the Grand Master of the Jedi Order.

"Everyone's out that was coming out," he said, in response to her unspoken question, rising with the billowing smoke from the Temple below.

She nodded grimly, even though her Uncle could not see- he did not need to. Jaina felt frustration cresting inside her: _Some Sword of the Jedi I turned out to be today…_ Determinedly, she tamped those feelings down.

Uncle Luke seemed to sense them nevertheless, softly admonishing, "There are far more important things to worry about. And better outlets for your energy. We're out of the Temple, but not yet out of the fire."

Jaina grinned tightly. "Right. Let's get the hell out of here." And then they were in the thick of battle. This was Jaina's element. She vaguely registered her erstwhile wingman peeling off, diving into the midst of a swarm of GAG fighters assailing a damaged StealthX, felt the pilot send out a wash of gratitude as his pursuers tumbled from the sky.

Jaina took the cue and powered into a dive, cannons flaring, but not nearly so bright as the fighter that blew to splinters under their onslaught. Cutting then the throttle, she dropped back behind the hapless fighter's wingmate and sent him to join his friend.

Twisting and turning in the weightlessness of space, she was as a dancer on the solar wind. And the dance she paced was deadly, waiting for only one misstep. Against the terrible odds, the strain on the Jedi and their Loyalist allies was great as time slid by. Jaina could feel herself tiring- regardless of how many fighters she knocked down, two more seemed to rise in their place.

Suddenly, she mis-stepped.

Jaina's rear shields were bracketed by incoming fire as a pair of GAG A-Wings slid onto her six o'clock. Jaina instantly went evasive, corkscrewing away, but the pilots had some skill and retained their position on her tail. Her astro droid, Cappi, shrieked as the rear shields buckled; her hand flashed to the ejection lever…

Yet, somehow, they were no longer on her. In a brief but intense flash, one A-wing was vaporized. The other poured on the fighter's fabled speed…but even it could not outrace the proton torpedo chasing it.

Jaina heaved a sigh of relief. "Cappi, get that shield back up," she told her faithful astromech.

She received a faint warble in response, as the shaken droid went to its work.

To her port side, Jaina caught a flash of movement as another StealthX swept by. "Looks like you still have your admirers, Goddess," its pilot, Kyp Durron, quipped, using her old Vong War callsign.

Truthfully, she was too grateful to snap back at him for it. "Those two I could have done without. But thanks," she returned.

He dipped his wing in response as the recall order came over the comm system. "That's it!" he crowed. "Bring it in! They finally got the last of those sithing refugees off-planet; see you on _Peregrine_!" With that, he was off.

She swung her fighter to follow when a familiar presence swelled in the Force. Jacen. Her twin was back aboard ship, safe, and urging her home.

Mistake number two. She barely had time to berate herself for her distraction before the missile slammed home and her battered fighter spun out. Beyond the cracked canopy, space whirled and she sensed Jacen's alarm, glimpsing his base ship in the distance and a far larger vessel circling to port- or was it starboard?- swelling in size before she knew only darkness.

_Author's Note__: Alright then! Chapter Two is down. I hope everyone is enjoying this re-vamp: I hope it has proven more realistic than the original and the writing is a bit more mature. I wish I could say that I will be updating regularly, but I am presently in college and carrying not only a job, but a full 18 credits this semester as well. I don't intend to abandon this story, however, and will update as I can._

_Thank you all, my dear readers, for you continuing support and understanding._

_Highest of Regards,_

_-The CAG_


End file.
